Monday, October 27, 2014

Hello! It's almost Halloween! There is still time to create some spooky projects! Tonight I'm sharing my version of Tim's October tag.

Isn't his tag so much fun?! The colors and textures are amazing. Check out his blog post here for details on how its done.

While I don't have all the materials Tim used I followed his concept and theme. I don't have the new Distress Stain Sprays yet so I colored my tag with his Wrinkle Free Distress technique. I also made my focal point the stamped/embossed image rather than the pumpkin. Loving how it turned out. Doesn't Mr. Skeleton look like he is having fun with his pumpkins?

The monocle hanging with the wish bone off the swivel clasp is such a clever way to hang charms on a tag or project.

Love how the texture paste takes color!

The tinsel makes a fun accent with the pumpkin.

I wanted to add a word with the alpha chips but felt with the size of the skeleton and pumpkin at the bottom that it would have been too crowded. Just makes me smile to see Mr. Skeleton carrying that little pumpkin.

Hope you enjoyed my October tag. There is still time to join in the fun and make your own!

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Can you believe we are already at Challenge 13 in the CC3 Challenge? This one is all about the Worn Cover.

I am playing along with the lovely Linda Ledbetter and the Curiosity Crew as they make their way through Tim Holtz latest book, A Compendium of Curiosities Volume III. Check out page 35 for all the details and inspiration.

As always, there will be a "Curiosity Crew's Choice" winner who will receive a fabulous assortment of Tim's products, courtesy of Tim himself and Mario Rossi, his Logistic Director.

This challenge is sponsored by Inspiration Emporium and one lucky winner will get a $50 shopping spree at Inspiration Emporium.

Be sure to check out Linda's blog for more details on the challenges and to see all the inspiration from the Curiosity Crew and all those playing along.

I thought it would be fun to make a Santa book with the Christmas Wishes version of the worn cover. It could hold the Santa pictures every year, or perhaps the Christmas morning photos. Something that could be brought out each year with the decorations to bring up memories of Christmas past.

The cover was colored with Iced Spruce Distress Stain. The spine was decorated with some festive greenery using the Festive Stencil and some texture paste. Once dry I colored them with Distress Markers.

The cover was embellished with a white pigment pen (Uniball Signo is my favorite) and a Fude Ball 1.5 Red pen. I just enhanced the pre-printed patterns already there. A little Glossy Accents on the Christmas Wishes and some Xmas Red Stickles finish it off. Next came old St. Nick. Almost like he was made to fit that spot on the cover, don't you think?

The inside cover was decorated with Distress Inks applied through the Festive, HollyBough and Christmas stencils.

Both the outside and inside were spritzed with Perfect Pearls mist in Biscotti. These pics don't quite capture the magical sparkle it adds.

The Idea-ology Trimmings used to tie up the spine were embellished with a Facet and Fragments.

Really, I think I've fallen for St. Nick! This new die is just the best Christmas accent and so fun to put together. I used some hand made paper recycled from some old art pieces. Just makes the perfect fuzzy Santa beard, sigh ;-).

The worn cover is a blast to play with. I'm thinking this little Santa book will be perfect to hold some of those throw back Christmas pictures.

Thanks Linda and the Curiosity Crew for all the fun and inspiration. To Inspiration Emporium for sponsoring this challenge. And of course, a huge thank you to Tim, Mario, and team for the fabulous products and all the inspiration.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

I have just been so inspired with Halloween projects this year! Yesterday I spent the day with my crafty friends at the annual Chico Scrapbooks Halloween crop. What fun to see all the imaginative costumes and projects! You can check out the pics from the crop and all the other happenings at Chico Scrapbooks here on their Facebook page.

Here we all are in our costumed glory!

Jodie always has something festive waiting for us to make each event extra special. Check out these goodies. Little treat boxes filled with candy.

Chico Scrapbooks usually offers some optional kits for the croppers to work on while having fun. This event featured these two. The one of the right is my Halloween Treat box that I entered into the Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge 11. You can see my blog post here.

This box would be perfect on your desk or to give as a gift filled with Halloween candies! There are still a few kits available so if you are interested contact Jodie at Chico Scrapbooks today at (530)345-9333.

I worked on some decorative wall hangings inspired by Shelly Hickox and the Faux Tarnished Silver Technique she uses. Nobody does Halloween like Shelly! For some great inspiration be sure to check out Shelly's blog Stamptramp. I will share the project I made and some of the steps in another post.

I also was able to finish my version of Tim Holtz October tag! That's a record for me this year as I have been sliding in at the last moment on these. Look for the post on that one coming up this week.

Hope you are enjoying this wonderful fall weekend. Take care and happy creating!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

its finally beginning to feel like fall here in Northern California. Last week we had day time temps in the 90's! It is cooler in the evenings and mornings so I know the season is changing. I am lucky enough to live in area where we get the fall show of colors with all the trees changing. One of my favorite things to do is create fall leaves for my home decor and other projects.

I already gave you a peek at what I've created so far in this post Fall Leaves and More on September 29th. I showed my place card and table runner. I have added some more leaves to the table runner and its now complete in all its rich fall colors and leaves.

The dies I used to create my leaves and pumpkin are all Tim Holtz Sizzix dies. Really, you can't be surprised by that choice, hee, hee. The newest die in his die and texture fade combo series in the Layered Leaf (660039). I also used the Autumn Gathering Sizzlits Decorative Strip(657454), Tattered Leaves Bigz (656927), Garden Green Bigz (659436), Pumpkin Parts (660031), Mini Acorn & Pumpkin Movers and Shapers (657457), Baroque Bigz (656633) and the Textured Leaves Set Texture Fades (658251).

I have found that Kraft card stock makes the most realistic leaves when I want to color them myself. Using a variety of reds, yellows, greens, oranges, and even a touch of purple distress inks I created backgrounds on Kraft using Tim's Wrinkle Free Distress Technique. See list below of the Distress Ink colors I used. Then I proceeded to cut out about 100 leaves. Yes, that one hundred leaves! Mostly with the colored background but I also used some core'dinations Time Holtz Kraft-core Nostalgic collection. Check it out at the core'dinations website.

The centerpiece of the runner is a dimensional pumpkin made with the Pumpkin Parts die. I cut 12 of the base pumpkin, folded them in half, and glued together. I used fibers from my LSS, Chico Scrapbooks to create the stem. The pumpkin was glued to the Baroque die cut. That whole assembly was glued to a length of burlap ribbon.

I also created some mini pumpkins and acorns to next among the leaves. These were cut from the Kraft-Core paper and crackled. I topped it off with a length of sheer wired ribbon that I curled.

It will make a great centerpiece to the Thanksgiving table.

Or will work on the mantle or a console table.

Check out some of the details you can achieve with these dies, texture fades, and inks!

The options on this runner are only up to your imagination. For a mantle only piece I would make the leaves cascade on one side so that they would hang over the edge. A round or square center piece could be created by using a larger card stock or chipboard base.

Happy Fall. Hope you can find some time to create a fall leaf runner for your home. If you are in the Chico area I will be doing a class on the Fall Table Runner sometime in early November. Keep an eye out on the Chico Scrapbooks website and Facebook page for more details. As soon as I have more info I'll let you know.

I've got several projects in the works. In fact I've got three holidays on my desk right now. Of course, the fall/thanksgiving leaf projects. For Halloween I've got some cards almost ready to show you as well as a just started mixed media canvas. Third is some winter/Christmas experimentation going on. The next die in the layered series is a snowflake! I'm working on the best paper and colors for the snowflakes. Lots to share this holiday season so please come back and check out what's next.